Charger MOD experiment.

[Patriot]

Charger experiment.

I'm thinking of picking up this cheapy, just as an experiment. I think I may just pop it open and put some pics on the forum here, and get the gurus to chime in on what can be done to boost the Voltage a little for balancing LiFePO4 cells.

The other seller son Ebay want $75.00 for a similar charger that is only a few volts higher. They charge the premium for noe reason only.... It can be used for LiFePO4 cells.

Or is this a dangerous or excessively costly venture?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180318222091&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT&viewitem=

 

[pgt400]

The 48v $75 Lifepo4 charger is also 6 amp, not 2.5 like this one. $15 is very cheap for a 48v charger......even for China built!

 

[Patriot]

mp3k has a 3a charger for sale for $59 plus $15 shipping. The case even appears to be the same size. Not that it's a rip off, but my thought is SLA chargers are of a big lot, and they are just selling them off cheaply. i'm curious as to what it takes to adjust or mod this to get a few more volts out of it.

HOWEVER, out of personal preference, I emailed PING to see what he sells his chargers for. From all the good reviews on him, I think I'd rather pick on eup from him if he does in fact sell them. I think he actually sells them for a little less.

I may buy one from Ping, set up just for lifepo4, which is probably the smartest thing for my inexperienced brain to do... but I may also get one of these cheapies, just to play with.

 

[Patriot]

OK, maybe this is a BAD idea.

 

[dogman dan]

What is not to love about a cheap spare charger? Maybe carry it for opportunity charges that don't complete anyway. The voltage only matters at the very end of the charge cycle. A 6 amp charger that is faster is worth it too.

 

[Patriot]

Well, for $25, I went ahead and bought one of the cheapies. I figure, I can break it open, and toy with it to see if I can modify it in anyway (within limits) to get the voltage up closer to 60v.

I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing.

So, I can foresee starting a thread in the forum with pics to get input as to how I can mess with it.

 

[dogman dan]

Look for a pot with an adjusting screw on top. On my soneil, there was only one so it made it easy to see which one. If it has one, check the voltage of the charger with a voltmeter, unplug, turn the screw a 1/8 turn. Check the voltage, and if it is different, you are in buisness. If it's not, put it back to where the screw was before, and try another pot if there are several. I think my thread on when I did mine was something like "tweaking a soneil" Or tweaking a sla charger.